# Cornelius (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/cornelius/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /kɔɹˈniliəs/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Con |
| US babies named this | 37,049 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 36,407 / 642 (2% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 208, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Cornēlius.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 9 | 6,067 |
| 1976 | 5 | 9,581 |
| 1977 | 6 | 8,661 |
| 1978 | 9 | 6,496 |
| 1979 | 7 | 8,211 |
| 1980 | 11 | 5,988 |
| 1981 | 6 | 9,353 |
| 1982 | 9 | 7,001 |
| 1983 | 5 | 10,602 |
| 1984 | 9 | 6,929 |
| 1985 | 7 | 8,532 |
| 1986 | 10 | 6,701 |
| 1987 | 8 | 8,157 |
| 1988 | 8 | 8,551 |
| 1990 | 5 | 13,422 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 154 | 1,161 |
| 2012 | 151 | 1,192 |
| 2013 | 151 | 1,187 |
| 2014 | 152 | 1,208 |
| 2015 | 154 | 1,200 |
| 2016 | 151 | 1,236 |
| 2017 | 106 | 1,545 |
| 2018 | 92 | 1,708 |
| 2019 | 107 | 1,565 |
| 2020 | 111 | 1,513 |
| 2021 | 86 | 1,816 |
| 2022 | 94 | 1,762 |
| 2023 | 83 | 1,898 |
| 2024 | 68 | 2,156 |
| 2025 | 82 | 1,908 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10 | 2,039 |
| 2012 | 11 | 1,962 |
| 2013 | 9 | 2,216 |
| 2014 | 6 | 2,964 |
| 2015 | 3 | 4,747 |
| 2016 | 7 | 2,804 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3,996 |
| 2018 | 8 | 2,445 |
| 2019 | 7 | 2,728 |
| 2020 | 8 | 2,404 |
| 2021 | 8 | 2,493 |
| 2022 | 11 | 2,018 |
| 2023 | 4 | 4,107 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,270 |
| 2025 | 6 | 3,256 |

## In other languages

- Dutch: Cornelis
- Esperanto: Kornelio
- French: Corneille
- Hungarian: Kornél, Soma
- Italian: Cornelio
- Latin: Cornelius
- Norwegian: Kornelius
- Polish: Korneliusz, Kornel
- Portuguese: Cornélio
- Romanian: Corneliu, Cornel
- Russian: Корнéлий, Корнéй
- Spanish: Cornelio
- Tagalog: Cornelio
- Ukrainian: Корни́лій
- Vietnamese: Côrnêliô

## People named Cornelius

- Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and tycoon (1794–1877)
- Cornelius Jansen, Bishop and theologian (1585-1638)
- Cornelius Sim, Catholic bishop (1951–2021)
- Cornelius A. Smith, 11th governor-general of The Bahamas (born 1937)
- Cornelius Johnson, American high jumper (1913–1946)
- Cornelius Warmerdam, American pole vaulter, coach (1915–2001)
- Cornelius Gurlitt, German composer (1820-1901)
- Cornelius a Lapide, Flemish Jesuit priest and exegete (1568-1637)
- Christianus Cornelius Uhlenbeck, Dutch linguist (1866–1951)
- Cornelius Cardew, English composer and improviser
- Cornelius Gurlitt, German architect, academic and art historian (1850–1938)
- Cornelius van Til, Dutch-American philosopher and theologian

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.